HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



29 



THE BANDED SUN-EISH. 



{Mesogonistius chcetodon, Gill.) 



By Cuarles C. Abbott, M.D. 



SEVERAL times I have gone a-fisliing this 

 summer (1S71), taking with me something to 

 read, and twice that something has been Science- 

 Gossip. Away from the smoke and din of a manufac- 

 turing town, in a quiet nook, guarded on three sides 

 with a grandly wooded bluff, and through which wan- 

 dered a lovely stream, I spent many a whole day; and 

 here it was, while I rested from collecting specimens 

 of the above-named fish, for my aquarium, that I 

 determined, with your permission, Mr. Editor, to 

 give your readers a short pen-and-pencil sketch of 

 this beautiful fish, which, strange to say, has never 

 yet been figured in any scientific journal, and is 

 considered a doubtful species by Gunther iu his 

 Catalogue of Acanthopterygian Fishes. 



Fig. 15. The Banded Sun-fish. 



Well, I am happy to say, there is nodoubt whatever 

 concerning either his existence or individuality. To 

 see him caper and show off his eccentricities would 

 delight Mr. Darwin. After ten years' acquaintance 

 with not only this fish but all his associates, I un- 

 hesitatingly declare him to be the most intelligent 

 of our small freshwater fishes ; and that fish are 

 devoid of intelligence, none will declare who have 

 studied them carefully. 



The Banded Sun-fish lives in quiet waters, where 

 there is an abundance of vegetation. He delights 

 to hide in the masses of splatter-docks and allied 

 plants {Jtiacharis and Nvphar) that are so characf er- 

 istic of our quiet streams and mill-ponds; but herein 

 alone he is like the finny companions that he has, 

 as our various cyprinoids and the other sun-fish 

 {Pomotls and Eimeacanthus) . If you approach the 

 bank of the stream carefully, and gaze about with 

 patience, you can easily detect him eyeing you very 

 steadily, and if you are not too demonstrative, he 

 will allow himself to be scrutinized. Stand still a 

 moment and see him exhibit ! With his dorsal and 

 ventral fins closely pressed upon his back and sides, 

 he moves along, slowly, a very ordinary fish, except 



that his black and white show out very distinctly ; 

 but anon, he sees a shell slowly climbing the stalk 

 of a splatter-dock, and then, oh — wondrous change! 

 Up goes his dorsal fin, and down fall the ventrals ! 

 His colours deepen— the black bands are deeper 

 black ; the white interspaces assume a pinkish 

 hue; and with fins outspread, down he sweeps 

 upon the unsuspecting shell; and turning, down 

 go his fins again to his body, and he saunters 

 carelessly about, apparently using .his colourless 

 pectoral fins only. He is not to be scooped up, iu^ 

 clear water, as any ordinary sun-fish. Give him 

 the advantage of but little vegetation, and he will 

 dodge a scoop-net until your arm aches. Not by 

 fast swimming, for he is a very slow-motioned fish 

 in straight-away locomotion ; but he will avoid you 

 by dodging. In this, he is really perfect ; and I 

 have got round it, when collecting, by using two 

 nets, after driving him into a mass of dock and 

 other aquatic plants. He dislikes to have his 

 favourite haunt intruded upon by other fish, and 

 makes a great demonstration, when disturbed, 

 which succeeds in driving off some fish, but not all. 

 The ordinary cat-fish especially excites his ire. 

 These slimy, restless cat-fish {Amiurns Be Kayi) go 

 nosing about in a most impudent way, and bump 

 their clammy snouts against any and eyerything 

 that attracts their attention. This is too much for 

 our delicate friend, the Banded Sun-fish ; and so, 

 when he sees a cat-fish nearing him, he is imme- 

 diately up in arms. His sharp spiny dorsal fin 

 fairly trembles. He moves not an inch, while the 

 sluggish Amiurus comes slowly nearer. All is pas- 

 sive on the Sun-fish's part until the nose of the 

 "cat " is within an inch or more, when, with a rush, 

 half head-over-tail, scrape go the sharp spines of 

 the Sun-fish across the " cat's " face, which causes 

 him, as we say in America, to skedaddle. Slowly 

 floating on the clear waters of Crossweelssen Creek, 

 I have peered over the side of my little boat, and 

 watched the above scene, perhaps a hundred \ 

 times, and ever laughed heartily at the success of 

 my little friend. 



The geographical range of this species is not 

 very extended, but being found abundantly about 

 Philadelphia and Baltimore, it has attracted the 

 attention of aquaria-keepers ; but their success in 

 keeping them has not been very good. Why, I 

 cannot pretend to say, as they are with the writer 

 a most hardy species ; and not only very hardy, but 

 attractive in every way. They become very tame, 

 and will approach the front glass, as you near the 

 aquarium, and if you put your finger or hand in the 

 water, they will glide past it, brushing their side 

 against it, as a kitten rubs itself against one's feet. 

 We know of no fish more suspicious of man when 

 in its native haunts, and none that becomes tame 

 more readily when once placed iu a well-organized 

 aquarium. This species was first described by 



